Confidence in Whom?
In today's society our value is treated like a commodity, increasing or decreasing in importance based on trends, careers, wealth and social status.
We are taught to 'use what you've got' to your advantage, be confident but not too confident and find your worth from fleeting, unreliable sources.
From the very beginning God really placed on my heart the desire to show people how valuable they are to him through this blog. After writing a number of blog posts I soon decided a series would be a perfect way to take you on the journey, that I have and am still going on.
Over 5 weeks, every Wednesday I'll be posting a new installment on Value. I pray that you would be reminded of how important and valuable you are to God. You are so loved by him for just the way you are.
This is Part 1.
This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.
1 John 5: 14-15
Confidence can be so difficult sometimes. It seems as though sometimes we have it and sometimes we don’t. We can be feeling pretty good about ourselves and then the front-facing camera turns on or we start scrolling through Instagram…yep we have all been there…and things can go downhill pretty quickly.
I used to always wonder, 'God I know you have called us to be confident -but trusting you is a lot of easier than trusting myself'. I was always too scared of being that person who is too confident in themselves - yet I knew that I was never going to be able to do what God had called me to do if I didn’t trust that I would be equipped to do it.
We can all 'put on' a brave face and pretend we have it all together - my family always said I was very good at coping and that’s not always a bad thing. But I've learnt that in order to have true faith and to really walk in the promises of God you need to NOT:
.…fling away your [fearless] confidence, for it has a glorious and great reward. For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised.
Hebrews 10:35-36
So then how do we have this fearless confidence? Well actually only recently did I get this revelation -that God doesn’t expect us to have confidence in ourselves (the world does) but God just wants us to put our confidence in HIM! Now, I know it seems pretty obvious doesn't it - but truly think about what confidence in the Lord really means…
In Hebrews 4:16 it says 'So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.'
It means that just like little children who have confidence that their Fathers will provide, that they are wise and have their best interests at heart - we need to learn how to kneel at the feet of Jesus boldly giving over our worries and fears to him. We need to cast aside our agenda, our dreams, our 5yr plan and confidently run into his arms. Not just when everything is going right, but when everything is going wrong.
"His grace is sufficient for you, for his power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore we can boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, so that his power may rest on us."
2 Corinthians 12:9
So good news! We don’t have to have it all together - I certainly don’t - we don’t need to 'put on' confidence and we don’t need to figure it out all by ourselves! And just because you can never have enough Bible verses to back this up….
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
Let’s open our hearts, humble ourselves and place our confidence in the one that never fails…Jesus. Sound like a plan?
